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Nutritionist Told Me To Wean My Toddler!!!

I was flabbergasted today when our new nutritionist said, "The absolute best thing you can do for your child is to wean him."

We were there because he's 33 months old and is in the 7th percentile for height but the 27th percentile for weight. He's gained 3 lbs. and grown 1 inch in the last 4 1/2 months. He now weighs (finally) 30 lbs. and he's 29 inches tall. The doctor said if he drops into the 5th percentile for height that they'll want to run a bunch of tests. But, we're positive his problem is nutrition, not genetic or due to any illness.

He's our 5th child and, by far, the pickiest. Feeding him is like entering a war zone. He will slam his mouth shut and refuse to eat much, if anything, at some meals. If you give him a blueberry waffle, he'll take 2 bites. If you give him a bowl of grapes, he'll eat most of them...some of the time. If you give him potato chips, he'll eat until he bursts. But, he can't live on potato chips. It's very difficult and so stressful. I've been nursing him in the morning, and before naptime and bedtime. I've recently cut out the morning one to encourage him to eat breakfast. But, why must I eliminate the naptime and bedtime nursing if he's not going to eat food afterward anyway?

The nutritionist said the longer I nurse him, the longer he depends on the suck reflex and the less he depends on swallowing solids. He swallows food just fine. It's getting the food into his mouth that's the problem. Am I the only one who thinks the suck reflex explanation for a child who's almost 3 is beyond ridiculous?

Re: Nutritionist Told Me To Wean My Toddler!!!

I've seen this discussed here before, you might want to search around.

No I don't believe that starving a toddler into eating solids foods is going to make anything better. This isn't like he's sucking on a pacifier and not eating anything, he's getting some really dense fats and calories at the breast still. Maybe she doesn't see a nutritional value of breastmilk and thinks it's all sucking. You might want to get a second opinion or ask her if she isn't worried about the calories and fats he's going to miss plus the disruption of weaning and all the stress that goes with that.

Re: Nutritionist Told Me To Wean My Toddler!!!

I agree. If he's picky about food, it seems like the last thing you'd want to do is cut off his only reliable source of excellent nutrition. It doesn't make sense to me. Can you see a different nutritionist?

“We are not put on earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are there always for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you.”
--Anonymous

IME - when we make a big deal out what DS is (or is not) eating he is likely to eat LESS or NOTHING. We've gotten through several eating strikes by offering DS healthy food options and then totally and completely ignoring whether he eats or not.

When I was getting stressed out by DS not eating or tried to "make" him eat, DS totally picked up on it as a way of getting attention and would NOT eat.

It's also REALLY important that toddler nutrition is based on what they eat over the course of several days or even a whole week. Our dietitian looks at a 3 day food diary for DS. We've definitely noticed that he has some days where he eats only carbs (bread, pasta, etc) and others only proteins and others only fruits and veggies.

As for size - by definition of how the growth charts are set up SOMEONE will be at or below 5%. I think that it's good for docs to look at small LO and rule out any medical / nutritional reasons why they might be small. But it could be just that the LO is a small child. And that's okay.

Our pediatrician looks at DS *personal* growth curve and takes into consideration things like family history (were DH and I small as children, etc).

Re: Nutritionist Told Me To Wean My Toddler!!!

Originally Posted by @llli*angela2

I was flabbergasted today when our new nutritionist said, "The absolute best thing you can do for your child is to wean him."

We were there because he's 33 months old and is in the 7th percentile for height but the 27th percentile for weight. He's gained 3 lbs. and grown 1 inch in the last 4 1/2 months. He now weighs (finally) 30 lbs. and he's 29 inches tall. The doctor said if he drops into the 5th percentile for height that they'll want to run a bunch of tests. But, we're positive his problem is nutrition, not genetic or due to any illness.

He's our 5th child and, by far, the pickiest. Feeding him is like entering a war zone. He will slam his mouth shut and refuse to eat much, if anything, at some meals. If you give him a blueberry waffle, he'll take 2 bites. If you give him a bowl of grapes, he'll eat most of them...some of the time. If you give him potato chips, he'll eat until he bursts. But, he can't live on potato chips. It's very difficult and so stressful. I've been nursing him in the morning, and before naptime and bedtime. I've recently cut out the morning one to encourage him to eat breakfast. But, why must I eliminate the naptime and bedtime nursing if he's not going to eat food afterward anyway?

The nutritionist said the longer I nurse him, the longer he depends on the suck reflex and the less he depends on swallowing solids. He swallows food just fine. It's getting the food into his mouth that's the problem. Am I the only one who thinks the suck reflex explanation for a child who's almost 3 is beyond ridiculous?

Help!!!

Angela

I too would seek a second opinion. 29 inches is pretty short for almost 3.. BUT how tall are you and DH? Whats the gene pool look like? I don't think there is reason to wean especially if your ds is so picky. He is still getting protiens, fats etc from you which is Have they run any tests for hormones etc? Growth hormone? thyroid? I would go that route first before anything else. Your know your son best. Trust your gut.. and get a new nutritionist... Have they ruled out any tongue, jaw , swallowing issues? Tongue tie etc? How is his speech? devlopementally is he on sch?